Names In The News

Ravens S TOM ZBIKOWSKI earned $50,000 Saturday for his TKO of RICHARD BRYANT at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, and Top Rank Chair BOB ARUM said that he has "received calls from several NFL players inquiring about the possibility of getting into the ring." Giants RB BRANDON JACOBS and DE OSI UMENYIORA are "among those who have called Arum," and if the "lockout turns out to be as long as many in football speculate it will, Arum expects his phone to keep ringing" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 3/13).

ALL CLEAR: The IOC on Saturday said that former VANOC CEO JOHN FURLONG "has been cleared of wrongdoing during bidding" for the '10 Vancouver Olympics. Furlong in his new book claims that a "deal with Moscow's mayor may have been crucial in Vancouver's victory." The book said that a "deal had been reached that involved the Vancouver team arranging a special Olympic bidding workshop for the Russians in exchange for votes from Russia's IOC members" (AP, 3/12).

FINDING FUNDING: StarStreet, a Boston-based sports stock market in which users can buy and sell virtual shares of pro athletes using real money, has closed on an undisclosed round of venture capital funding from SV Angel, a Silicon Valley fund led by noted tech investor RON CONWAY, and Jarr Capital. StarStreet is attempting to succeed where several other athlete-oriented stock markets, such as ProTrade and OneSeason, have either failed or abandoned (Eric Fisher, SportsBusiness Journal).

NAMES: TIGER WOODS is "making a rare late-night television appearance" Wednesday night on NBC's "LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON." Fallon said that he "lured Woods to the show by pitching him the idea of playing miniature golf" (HOLLYWOODREPORTER.com, 3/12)....NBC NFL announcer CRIS COLLINSWORTH was among 83 people rescued Friday night when Waterfront restaurant in Covington, Ky., "broke from its moorings" and began floating down the Ohio River (AP, 3/12)....MLB Giants P TIM LINCECUM is on the cover of the N.Y. TIMES STYLE MAGAZINE's men's spring '11 issue (THE DAILY)....Magic President ALEX MARTINS will "lead the new oversight board charged with getting construction" of a new performing arts center in downtown Orlando "back on track" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 3/12)....Members of the '90-91 Bulls championship team, including MICHAEL JORDAN, SCOTTIE PIPPEN, WILL PERDUE, BILL CARTWRIGHT, CRAIG HODGES, STACEY KING and JOHN PAXSON, among others, were "saluted during a halftime ceremony" during Saturday's Jazz-Bulls game. Jordan "shimmered like no one else." In the "narrow, entwined worlds of sports and marketing and entertainment and charisma, he has no equal" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 3/13)....The NHRA Saturday honored driver KENNY BERNSTEIN and announced that Gainesville Raceway "will now be known as '301 Bernstein Way' in honor of the six-time NHRA world champion's milestone 301.70 mph speed he set at the track back in 1992" (NHRA.com, 3/2)....President BARACK OBAMA Friday welcomed the '09-10 Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks to the White House. Obama was "given a Hawks sweater with No. 44 on the back," and Blackhawks C JONATHAN TOEWS "presented the president with a small replica of the Stanley Cup" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 3/12)....MLB Network Saturday aired "DOWN THE LINE," a documentary on Red Sox employees that will run on the network through April (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/13).

IN MEMORY: Former NFL Giants VP/Player Personnel TOM BOISTURE passed away Friday at the age of 79. Boisture worked for the Giants for 20 years before retiring after the '00 NFL Draft (N.Y. POST, 3/12). Boisture was a "key architect in the 1980s" for the Giants (NEWSDAY, 3/12).